Lucas Duda coming around when Mets need him most

Saed Hindash/The Star-LedgerThe Mets' Lucas Duda high-fives pitcher R.A. Dickey after scoring a run on a Josh Thole double July 20 against the Cardinals. Duda, who has played mostly first base and left field this season, has taken over as the Mets' regular right fielder after the trade of Carlos Beltran.

It had to wear on him. After hitting 27 home runs across three levels and being named the Mets' minor league player of the year in 2010, Lucas Duda seemed poised to take the leap. After a brief, ineffective stint in the majors early in 2011, he returned to Triple-A and pounded the ball to the tune of a 1.011 OPS before injuries called him back to the Mets. Then the games started piling up.

Ten games without a home run. Twenty. Thirty. Forty. One of the most feared power hitters in the minors, he was reduced to slapping the occasional single to right field. Worse, his defensive limitations kept him from consistent playing time, as he was relegated to pinch-hitting duty -- not the man's cup of tea, and not an easy thing to get used to after being a regular for so long in the minors.

And so Duda scuffled badly, to the point where he started to wonder whether he had it in him to be a Major League hitter. As the Mets came into their series with Texas on June 25, Duda was hitting .173. No home runs, only five RBI in what was still a small sample, but with the way it was stretched out over the entire season to that point, it must have felt much bigger.

But on June 25, Lucas Duda left the Mendoza Line behind, going 4-for-5 with three doubles and driving in four runs. That was the first step. With that big day, he gained some confidence that he could hit the pitching in the bigs, and his average started creeping upward.

By the time he stood in as a pinch-hitter against the Marlins' Leo Nunez on July 22, Duda was hitting .276, though he still hadn't hit a home run in 44 games on the world's biggest stage this year.

He didn't just sneak that one out of Florida's empty ballpark, either -- he blasted it with the kind of power that only Ike Davis can boast among the remaining Mets. But with David Wright healthy, all the homer was good for was getting him pinch-hitting appearances in the next three games.

But, with Carlos Beltran traded, the Mets had a new space that needed filling in their lineup. A huge guy at 6-4, 254, Lucas Duda has been handed the Mets' right-field job, and there he will stay as long as he can defend well enough to justify his bat's presence in the lineup. So far, in just a two-game sample, he's looked surprisingly mobile out in right, running down the few balls that have come his way with no problems.

More importantly, in the first game since Beltran was traded, Duda ripped this line-drive home run over the right-field wall at Great American Ball Park. He also drew a walk, something he's been doing with impressive consistency once he started getting more at-bats. The next day, Duda added two more hits, including a bases-clearing double, to finish off the sweep of the Reds.

All of a sudden, he can look up at the scoreboard and see himself hitting an I-belong-here .283, thanks to a month of July in which he's gone 21-for-61 (.344) with two homers, nine RBI, 10 walks against seven strikeouts, and a 1.043 OPS.

Opportunity is right here in front of Lucas Duda. The cash-strapped Mets would love for him to seize the reins so they don't have to worry about bringing in a veteran right fielder in free agency. Beautiful as a reunion would be, it seems unlikely that they will re-sign Carlos Beltran. So Duda is it right now.

With the sweep over the Reds, the Mets are standing taller than they have in a long time at three games over .500, though they're still lagging 6.5 games behind the Braves for the Wild Card. All that can change in a hurry, though, if things fall the right way, and one of those things is Lucas Duda continuing his hit parade.

Looking at the guy as he stands in at the plate now, you can't help but feel like he will.